Announced at Electronics Entertainment Expo in 2005, the Playstation 3 seemed all but poised to take the lead in the next generation of video game consoles. Sony was enjoying its 3rd-party development and the hype for Playstation 3 began to accumulate and churn. This, however, was part of the problem.

At E3 2006, the Playstation 3 was finally introduced. However, due to Sony's presentation, the public image of Playstation 3 was shattered. An overly high price ($599 USD for the premium model, $499 USD for the core model) shocked the world and instantly turned off the casual player market to PS3. "Why should the average consumer pay a large amount of money when there were cheaper options, such as Nintendo's Wii ($250) and Microsoft's Xbox 360 ($400)?" was the question on the average gamer's mind.

It turns out the price was due to the new Blu-Ray drive, which would support Sony's new disc format, Blu-Ray. While the Playstation 3 was in-fact the cheapest Blu-Ray player on the market, the average consumer was less than willing to pay for all this just to play PS3 games.

This, coupled with several bad PR statements from Ken Kutaragi, Phil Harrison, and Kaz Hirai (usually trying to justify the price points, Hi-def, and Blu-Ray) and controversies surrounding the launch (including violence and eBay scalping) caused even the mainstream media to have a poor view of the Playstation 3.

Developers have complained about the difficulty of programming for Playstation 3, and more and more titles that were exclusive are being ported to the Xbox 360, thus creating less of a reason for the hardcore gamer to buy a Playstation 3. The loss of the rumble feature in the controller along with motion-sensing hot on the heels of the announcement of the Nintendo's Wii did not improve PR. Devil May Cry 4, one of the most anticipated exclusives to the Playstation 3 was announced to be released for the Xbox 360 as well. If this trend continues, it means bas business for Sony.